Release Dates

NCAA Football 2006 -- "The Game." (photo from EA Sports.com)

NCAA Football 2006: July 12. Available only on PS2 and Xbox (what -- no love for the GameCube?).

Madden 2006: August 9. Available on all consoles including PC.

NCAA is a must in my book. In my opinion, it's a hell of a lot better than Madden. This time, you can start your own players in high school, searching for scholarships while you keep an eye on them during the course of a season.

With Madden 2006, even though it's only going to be the TRUE NFL-licensed game out there on shelves this year, I just might pass this one up. Lately, these past couple of years I've been growing bored of the NFL games, especially Madden (and this could include the ESPN 2K series also). Basically, the only real reason why I bought Madden was to see how well my college players could perform in the NFL. Now, it's just not worth it.

NCAA just offers more depth. My choice for 2005.

But the more interesting story will be Mike and Co. They were bashing Madden left and right ever since ESPN 2K5 came out. But now that Madden 2006 has exclusive rights to the NFL -- will they bend and break and finally cave in to the Madden dynasty? We'll see!

For some great past posts regarding the Madden/ESPN war of 2005, click here:

• August 16, 2005 (read the comments!)
• August 18, 2005